The nature and very existence of cyber deterrence remain under debate. This ThinkChina.dk policy brief seeks to challenge key assumptions tied to cyber deterrence and to provide a framework for how it is evolving among China, Russia, and the United States.

While incidents occurring in the nuclear domain indicate the inherent difficulty of these three countries engaging in meaningful official exchange on mutual vulnerability and strategic stability, cyberspace offers underappreciated levels of transparency and symmetry. These elements of strategic stability may not just be present in cyberspace, but may also offer a foundation for future exchanges. In doing so, setting up the basic groundwork of Chinese, Russian, and U.S. terminology, technology, and targeting represents an essential first step for better understanding how cyber deterrence operates.